If Someone with Ellison’s Record Were Running for Chair of Republican
National Committee Would ADL Be Silent?

For more information contact Morton A. Klein 212-481-1500

NEW YORK, November 18, 2016

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein released the
following statement:

As a bi-partisan organization, the ZOA treasures opportunities to work with
lawmakers and opinion makers on “both side of the aisle.” Alarmingly,
Congressional bipartisanship on pro-Israel issues, as well as on issues
related to U.S. security, is likely to be immeasurably harmed if radical
Muslim-American Congressman Keith Ellison a/k/a Keith X. Ellison a/k/a Keith
Hakim a/k/a Keith Ellison Muhammed (D-Minn) becomes the new Democratic
National Committee (the “DNC”) chair.

Ellison’s efforts to insert
anti-Israel provisions into the 2016 Democratic platform, his statements to
the press, his efforts to defeat a pro-Israel Jewish Congressman in a
faraway district, and his ties to radical anti-Israel and anti-Semitic
groups, coupled with his experience persuading several dozen fellow
Democrats to join his anti-Israel initiatives, are of grave concern.

In 2014, Ellison was one of only 8 Congresspersons who voted against a
bi-partisan bill to provide $225 million to Israel’s “Iron dome” missile
defense system. (395 representatives voted for the bill.) (See “Video:
Keith Ellison explains his vote against Iron Dome,” by Jazz Shaw, Aug. 3,
2014.

And in 2010, Ellison spearheaded and convinced 53 other Democratic
Congresspersons to sign his infamous “Gaza 54” letter to President Obama,
which falsely accused Israel of humiliating and wreaking “collective
punishment” on Gaza residents and demanded that President Obama should
pressure Israel to lift the Gaza blockade.

Ellison was a devotee and worked for anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan for many
years… and co-sponsored anti-Semitic speeches by Kwame Ture entitled,
“Zionism, Imperialism, White Supremacy or Both.”

The anti-Israel smears in Ellison’s “Gaza 54” letter are still being used
today to promote anti-Israel, anti-Semitic boycotts, divestment and
sanctions (BDS), on the website of the leading BDS group in the U.S, which
also asked readers to thank Congressman Ellison.

Ellison also co-authored and spearheaded a letter demanding that Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress regarding the Iran deal
must be delayed until after the sanctions deadline – when the visit would
have been useless. (See “Rep. Keith Ellison: Postpone Netanyahu’s Speech to
Congress, by Robert Naiman, Jan. 30, 2015; Copy of Ellison’s letter,
entitled “Urge Speaker Boehner to Postpone Netanyahu Invitation until After
the Israeli Election and Iran Sanctions Deadline,” Peace Now website; and
“Delay Netanyahu’s Visit, Say 23 House Democrats,” by Edna Dumain, Roll
Call, Feb. 19, 2015.)

If he becomes DNC leader, Ellison will likely be empowered to persuade even
more Democratic Congresspersons to join him in actions hostile to Israel’s
security and Israeli civilians’ lives – wreaking enormous damage to the
prospects for future bi-partisan support for American’s closest ally in the
Middle East.

Elevating Ellison to DNC Chair could help establish a stark
pro-Israel/anti-Israel divide between America’s political parties.

During the same interview, Ellison also suggested that Israeli “occupation”
was to blame for a “humanitarian crisis” and lack of sewage processing in
Gaza – while ignoring that Israel withdrew from every inch of Gaza, and that
Hamas diverts the electricity needed to operate Gaza’s sewage treatment
plant to Hamas’s terrorist tunnels and operations.

And just last June, Ellison approvingly tweeted a Hebron window sign falsely
accusing Israel of expropriation and portraying Israeli security precautions
as “apartheid.” The sign stated: “CAUTION: THIS WAS TAKEN BY ISRAEL. YOU ARE ENTERING APARTHEID.”

Incredibly, during a DemocracyNow! TV interview Ellison also made the
nonsensical argument that America should not kill a leading terrorist
located in Yemen, who was responsible for numerous deaths of Americans and
was continuing to foment some of the worst terror attacks on Americans,
because the terrorist would consider his own death to be a “reward.”
Ellison stated: “Anwar al-Awlaki is not scared to get killed. You know, he
is somebody who wants — who has delusional, fantastic, crazy dreams of being
some kind of a martyr. And so, why reward him with that?”

In addition, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (ITP) documented that
Ellison received substantial campaign contributions from donors with a
history of connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, the parent of designated
terrorist organization Hamas; and spoke at Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) fundraising dinners and defended CAIR on the House floor.
(See “Keith Ellison’s Muslim Brotherhood Support,” IPT News, April 22,
2010.) CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation
case, for its involvement in funneling money to Hamas. ITP also reported
that Ellison accused moderate Muslim Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of fomenting bigotry
against his own people.

And just two months ago, Ellison defended the Islamic Society of North
America (ISNA) on the House floor. (See “ISNA Outraged by the False
Accusations Made During Thursday’s Congressional Hearing and Grateful to
Congressman Keith Ellison for His Remarks,” ISNA website press release,
Sept. 23, 2016.) ISNA is another unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy
Land Foundation case, for involvement in funneling money to Hamas.

Human rights attorney Brooke Goldstein also described “the very clear
connections of Keith Ellison groups to radical Islamist groups, to
anti-Semitism. . . . He has spoken at numerous Council on American Islamic
Relations conferences. This is a group that has ties to Hamas, a designated
terrorist group. He’s spoken three times for the Islamic Society of North
America. At the conference in 2008, they were handing out materials calling
America a terrorist organization, and calling for the destruction of Israel
and the United States.” (“Potential DNC Chair Keith Ellison’s History of
Anti-Semitism,” Nov. 17, 2016.)

Ellison also was a devotee and worked for brazen anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan
and the Nation of Islam for many years. The Weekly Standard reported
Ellison’s extensive involvements, including: raising funds and leading
anti-police chants to support cop-killers; co-sponsoring a vicious
anti-Semitic speech by Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), entitled “Zionism:
Imperialism, White Supremacy or Both?”

while ignoring Jewish law students’ pleas to Ellison not to sponsor the speech; speaking at a public hearing on behalf of the Nation of Islam in support of a woman alleged to have said

“Jews are among the most racist white people I know“; appearing on stage at
a Million Man March for the Nation of Islam in 1995 with Khalid Abdul
Muhammad, who reportedly said: “If words were swords, the chests of Jews,
gays and whites would be pierced.” (See “Louis Farrakhan’s First
Congressman,” by Scott W. Johnson, The Weekly Standard, Oct. 9, 2006.)

Jerusalem Post Senior Editor Caroline Glick noted that Ellison lied when he
claimed (when he first ran for Congress) that his association with the
Nation of Islam was brief. Glick explained: “Ellison was a long standing
member of the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam. . . .

Ellison’s association with the Nation of Islam dated back at least since 1989 and stretched at least until 1998. During that period, he not only knew about the Nation of Islam’s Jew hatred, he engaged in it himself.” (“The Ellison Challenge:

Ms. Glick also stated, citing the work of writer Scott Johnson, “Ellison is
an anti-Semite. He also defends cop killers.” (Id.)

Ellison also spouted “blame President Bush” 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Ellison analogized Bush’s prosecution of the war on terror to Hitler’s rise
to power, saying: “After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the
Communists for it and it put the leader of that country [Hitler] in a
position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.”

This reportedly even led the Anti-Defamation League to demand that Ellison
must retract his remarks, saying: “[Ellison’s] comments comparing the rise
of Nazism in the aftermath of the burning of the Reichstag to the War on
Terror in the aftermath of 9/11 is outrageous and offensive to all
Americans.” (See “Compare and Contrast: The Reichstag Fire and 9/11,” by
Matt Snyders, City Pages, July 19, 2007.)

Where are the ADL and other Jewish groups like some in the Reform Movement
that profess to care about anti-Semitism and bigotry now? Why are they
silent about Ellison’s frightening anti-Israel, anti Semitic record? Yet,
they are wrongly screaming about Trump aide Stephen Bannon’s alleged
anti-Semitism. If someone with Ellison’s record were running for Chair of
the Republican National Committee would ADL be silent??

Ellison is also likely to use the tremendous power and funds that would be
available to him as DNC chairman to help elect anti-Israel Democrats and
defeat pro-Israel Democratic Congresspersons. Ellison has already
demonstrated that he is willing to go to enormous lengths to defeat
pro-Israel Democrats. In 2012, Ellison traveled across the country, raised
funds and spoke at mosques in New Jersey, urging Arab-American residents of
New Jersey to defeat pro-Israel Democratic Jewish Congressman Steve Rothman.

JNS article reported that NORPAC Chairman (and ZOA Board Member) Dr. Ben
Chouake stated that he fears that if Ellison is elected chair of the DNC,
“one of his priorities will be to pull the party away from Israel” and that
Ellison represents “the fringe of the Democratic Party, not the center, and
would make it even harder for the party to have broad appeal,” and that
“Rabbi Menachem Genack of Englewood, New Jersey, a prominent Jewish
supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said [that electing
Ellison as DNC chair] . . . would ‘accelerate the process’ of pulling the
Democratic Party away from its traditional pro-Israel positions.” (Id.)

Similarly, Democratic New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind stated that Ellison
“is the most radical candidate imaginable, someone who represents the
extreme left wing of the party, which is why he’s being promoted by Bernie
Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and J Street—in other words, Ellison is being
backed by all the wrong people if you care about Israel. . . . If Israel
has to depend on support from the Ellisons of the world, it would be in
serious trouble.” (Id.)

In sum, Congressman Keith Ellison’s Anti-Israel positions and anti Semiticrecord are too divisive and dangerous to appoint him to head the DNC. ZOA urges Senator Chuck Schumer and others to take a strong stance againstEllison.